Film and TV Reviews

As the third installment of the Bridget Jones franchise, this film has been eagerly awaited by fans for over a decade, so there was a lot of pressure on this film to live up to expectations.

The film cuts forward to an older Bridget, in a more superior role in television, some new friends along with the old crew, a dead Daniel Cleaver and an originally absent Mark Darcy. Bridget goes to Glastonbury with one of her new young friends and has an encounter with a handsome American (Patrick Dempsey). She then is reunited with Mark and is intimate with him also. She then becomes pregnant with no clue who the father is and hilarity ensues.

I will not keep you guessing, I absolutely loved this film. I was slightly skeptical going in to see it, as sequels can often be disappointing and Renee Zellwegger’s obvious change in appearance gave me doubts from the start, plus the lack of Hugh Grant.

However, I feel that they appreciated all of these factors and worked around them very well. Renee Zellwegger fell perfectly back into her role as Bridget, the character we all empathised with and fell in love with over 10 years ago. They did not ignore the existence of Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), instead used his playboy reputation to bring humour to his funeral. Colin Firth, though aged considerably kept his stiff upper lip, British gentleman when playing Mark Darcy.

I was slightly worried with the addition of Patrick Dempsey that a handsome American was going to come and sweep Bridget off her feet. As a British audience, I think we all would feel slightly offended that our British gentleman isn’t good enough for our Bridget. However his Americanism is fully addressed in the film and the grievances people feel towards the American nature is used in good fun.

The only disappointment this film represented was the lack of fight between Colin Firth and his male rival. I did think it came close to it, but it seems the maturity of Colin Firth has followed through into Mr Darcy, as he didn’t resort to violence this time. However I always think that the 2 fight scenes between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in the previous films are iconic parts of the Bridget Jones franchise.

There are a few moments in the film that had me in stitches, particularly when Bridget goes into labour, so Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey have to struggle to carry her to the hospital due to the standstill traffic. British comedy isn’t always so visual, but the image of Bridget nearly being folded in half while they squeeze her through some revolving doors, then dumping her onto the front desk of the hospital had the entire cinema crying in laughter.

The Bridget Jones soundtracks are always loved by the fans and really complete the films, such as the Van Morrison song at the end of the first movie (if you can’t remember, go back and watch the final scene where Bridget runs after and finally finds Mark Darcy in the snow). The soundtrack to this film isn’t as iconic in my opinion as the first film, however this may be due to the modern chart music they have chosen this time, with songs by Jess Glynne and Ellie Goulding.

To conclude, this is definitely a film I would recommend watching if you need a pick me up. It is heart warming, nostalgic and hilarious. It will leave you feeling warm and cosy inside and I feel this will turn out to be one of the classics, along with the other Bridget Jones films. I award this film 5/5 stars. ★★★★★